Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Renewal Complete

Before I begin the real point of this post I need to apologize that almost 2 months have passed and I have not done a single post about our new handsome man, Samuel Cord Bullock. I started this blogspot to pass along tons of pictures of our first born son and as time has passed, children have been added and life has happened the posts have lessened to a near total despair in blog land. BUT, I am promising a great attempt in 2013 to blog again and the only reason I can say with great determination that I can pull through is that the blog is now going to be my scrapbook as well. I have many books perfectly (as perfect as someone with zero artistic gifting can pull off) kept of family memories but that is no longer a remote reality. So I feel the solution to all of my slacking needs will be to make the blog my scrapbook. The good news is that pictures will be promised and my goal is going to be at least to post once a month. The bad news is this is still real life so we can only hope and pray for the best. Ok, onto the point, love you guys, thanks for reading....

Many years ago, a dear friend of mine told me about a concept her pastor had introduced to her and that was a New Year's Word - one single word- from the Lord. Around the upcoming New Year she would pray and ask God for a word to define her upcoming year and then she would be reminded of His goodness and even promise throughout the year. I was (and hopefully still am) hungry for any word that the Lord would share with me and I prayed and sure enough, I got a word and the word throughout that year came to pass. So several years later, this is now one of the nearest and dearest things between the Lord and I and He has overwhelmed me each and every year with His faithfulness not only to speak but to know and to work.

Last year, after what had certainly been the longest and hardest season's of my Christian life, He spoke the word that I was thrilled to hear, RESTORE! Oh the joy that word held and oh the faith that I clung to all of 2012, that it would truly come to pass. The verse He gave me to pair with that glorious word was Joel 2:25 which says, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. I remember being so very excited and thinking to myself, "Do you mean EVERYTHING the enemy has eaten? You are going to restore it all in one single year?" I even made a list, our finances, my womb, our joy, our home, every single thing?? I prayed and with wild abandoned faith I just hoped for the best. Well, here we are, 2012 has come to an end and sure enough, His faithfulness has surpassed all I could have ever hoped or imagined. I sit here with my precious new son, in a beautiful house that our growing family now calls home, with a husband who has, by God's great grace, grown a successful business for our family and joy (not perfection) that I was certain a few years ago would have to wait for Heaven. So as 2012 comes to a close and 2013 has great promises provided by a faithful Savior, my faith has grown and my excitement will hopefully not be toned down by age. I want to always believe Him for BIG things but none of which this world seeks for joy, things that are eternal and really do deliver. As I have watched my precious son Cross be disappointed after each unwrapping fiasco during this birthday and Christmas season, I have been so reminded that stuff is never ever enough. That's a hard concept to explain to a 5 year old but sometimes it's a hard concept to believe as a 30 year old. This year the word the Lord has given me is Rest. I have been excited about some of the bigger things I knew He was saying to rest from like any major life changes (to include but not limited to having children, adopting children, traveling to far away lands or moving, ESPECIALLY with one week olds). I received that one with great joy but in the past day or two I have really been researching that word in the Bible and I am beginning to think He means so much more. I know He is telling me to literally rest more, to take life slower, to say NO more often and to let all things come to a screechinghalt in order that my body and my soul might be renewed. But another concept that unfolded during my research was that of peace. I kept thinking my word search was confused because no mention of the actual word "rest" would be in some of the verses but each time I would find the word "peace". One verse that I found that articulates this perfectly is Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" I think the Lord wants to teach me how not only rest for a year, but also to begin to learn ultimately how to rest for a lifetime. So let's toast to a New Year, a year of rest but also to a year of learning to truly rest. I pray that each of you out there reading prays and asks for a word yourself and that you sit and spend time with Jesus more in 2013 than you have ever done in your entire life. I pray that we do not go throughout this upcoming year tearing open "gifts" that will never bring a second of peace all the while ignoring and misprioritizing what would really bring joy. I pray we are overwhelmed during good times and even during bad at a God who is not misplaced and uninvolved in our day to day lives. I pray that He renews and brings peace and rest for us all to begin mainly by our relationship with Him.

About Me

Well, I am a small town girl who had a 1/2 and 1/2 childhood. Some parts where very dark, so dark I can't believe I made it through them and then others were just as normal as normal gets! I came to Clarksville in 98 to attend APSU and God knew all along that this was the town where He would have a head on collision with me and I would be madly in love with Him forever to come! He also had an amazing husband to give me despite all of my horrific past sins. He followed that blessing with now the makings of family that never in my wildest dreams would I or could I have built on my own. His grace is previous (before the foundations of the earth), that I KNOW!